Boxing is going through an uplifting period in the Cayman Islands both at professional and amateur level and the busy schedule continues for the part-timers as they bid to qualify for the Pan American Games for the final time this weekend.
It is round three of the Pan Am qualifiers for Cayman’s five amateur hopefuls. They missed the first round, all failed in the second qualifiers in Ecuador two months ago but learned enough to be confident this time round in Panama City.
Dariel Ebanks, Jason Parchment, Kendall Ebanks, Jessica McFarlane-Richards and Tracey Seymour are on their way this week and they are all fully confident they can get that spot for the Games in Guadalajara in October.
Middleweight Seymour and featherweight McFarlane-Richards spar with each other but because of the weight differential they also rely on male sparring, which is not ideal. Also they get too used to each other and need some variety.
That was provided recently when world class pro Nicole Woods came from Atlanta, Georgia to spar with Seymour who said: “The sparring sessions went very well with Nicole. It’s a lot different training with a female than it is training with the males, especially a female who knows her stuff.
“Nicole has fought international fights and professionally so her experience in the ring is very different from what I’m used to as she knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it. She’s really a champion and an inspiration.
“I’ve learnt to keep in the fight, keep punching, keep attacking because that’s what my opponent would most likely do to me, so I have to take it to them first and always be first.
“I’ve learnt what to do when my back is against the ropes and how it feels to be pressured. You see sparring with the guys is all good to a certain extent, but when I’m in the ring with another female, especially a female who has years of experience in this sport, it’s like a whole different ball game.”
“Just a week with a professional like Nicole is not enough to improve me fully to where I want to be and need to be. Just that one week with her has open my eyes that I need much more than just a week or two weeks of such sparring to be better and improve.
“If us females get that sort of sparring training on a regular basis instead of always going with the guys, I’m sure our chances will be at a high percentage for any games we attend.”
Seymour, 25, didn’t get to box in Ecuador because she was slightly overweight – only 1.6 ounces – but she’s in much better shape this time. “I‘ve learnt that in order to be good at these Games, we need to elevate ourselves more in the ring.
“You got to fight if you want to win and you got to fight hard because boxing has become more political than anything and the way to win is fighting harder than we ever did before because no one is just going to give it to you easily like that.
“The only how we’re going to elevate ourselves is if we get the right sparring sessions that we need. Countries like USA fight amongst each other on a regular basis.
“We do not have that kind of privilege because we’re such a small island and we only have one boxing gym versus USA who has countless of boxing gyms just in one state.
“I was only slightly over the weight limit which didn’t seem like a lot but it was to them. I’m right at my weight now…I have to be at 165lbs, I’m now 157lbs.”
If Seymour makes it to the Pan Ams, she hopes to go Olympics too. “If I get more sparring sessions like I had with Nicole, heck yeah, I believe I can make it to the Olympics.
“I just need that kind of work. I need to constantly work up not down and the only way to work up is getting the right sparring that we need.”
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